I Used to be Fat

Bridget Jones once said, "I suddenly realised that unless something changed soon I was going to live a life where my major relationship was with a bottle of wine... and I'd finally die, fat and alone, and be found three weeks later half-eaten by alsatians. Or I was about to turn into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction." As someone perpetually spending date night with nothing but a bottle of wine, this quote hits close to home. Instead of running from it this Valentine's Day, I've decided to embrace it. Here's how you can, too:
1. Buy a bottle of wine.*
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*Quantity varies depending on the individual; some may need more than just one. We are not here to judge.
2. Figure out which Valentine's Day movie is right for you.
(500) Days of Summer
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For those looking for a bit of whimsy with their despair.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
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For those wanting to completely erase a recent and painful relationship from their minds.
The Way We Were
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For those at peace with their failed relationship, but who still like to think back on how things used to be.
Blue Valentine
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For those looking for proof that relationships don't work.
Lost in Translation
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For those looking for to bask in the emptiness that only Sofia Coppola could bring.
Closer
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For those looking for a bit of a screwed-up story filled with deceit and raunchiness.
Annie Hall
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For those planning to cook lobster for one, or who want a laugh instead of a wallowing, revenge-filled night.
Kill Bill
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For those looking for an action-packed instead of a pity-partied night of revenge. Or for those who want to feel a little better about their own baby daddy issues.
Gone Girl
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For those looking for proof that all relationships not only don't work, but are also secretly dysfunctional, psychotic messes.
Fatal Attraction
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For those who just no longer give a hoot. If you need to watch this movie on Valentine's Day, we won't judge you. Get all the crazy out of your system before it's too late.
3. Enjoy. And remember, Valentine's Day is a bull shit holiday anyway. And you're fabulous, just as you are.
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Actor Chow Yun-Fat has criticised the Chinese police for using tear gas on protesters amid the ongoing political unrest in Hong Kong. Campaigners began rallying outside government buildings last month (Sep14) in response to proposed electoral reform and it turned into a mass pro-democracy sit-in with thousands of citizens packing the streets and camping out for days.
Chinese police have used tear gas in a bid to break-up the protest, sparking outrage among the international community, and Yun-fat, who was born and raised in the former British territory, has now criticised the authorities' heavy-handed tactics.
The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star tells Chinese Newspaper Apple Daily, "I've met the residents, the students (protesters) - they are very brave and it's touching to see that they're fighting for what they want. The students are reasonable. If the government can come up with a solution that the citizens or students are satisfied with, I believe the crisis will end. When the government uses violent measures on students, it's a turn-off for the people of Hong Kong. I don't wish to see anyone getting hurt... it was a peaceful demonstration, and there was no need for any violence or tear gas."

The world lost one of its greatest actors this week. Many of us grew up with Robin Williams as a firm presence in our lives that could make us laugh. He brought our families together every time we sat down to watch one of his films. He was the voice of Genie in Aladdin. He brought a board game to life in Jumanji. He was an inspiration in Dead Poet’s Society. Every role he portrayed, he encompassed that character so passionately, it’s hard to believe one man could be so versatile. In no way is this list comprehensive, because William’s career was so magnanimous, it cannot be broken down into which films were his best. He was a legend, with such a gift that all of his roles could be argued to be his best.
1. Mork, Mork and Mindy
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An alien comes to earth to study its inhabitants. The plot is absolutely out there, but Robin Williams embraces this character wholeheartedly in this Happy Days spinoff. He brings Mork to life in a quirky, sweet way that we will see more of during his career. This television role was one of his first big exposures to an audience and he was well received.
2. Popeye, Popeye
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Popeye is one of the first forays where viewers got to see Williams carrying different voices and traits using physical comedy to deliver them. He embodied this classic sailor so realistically, you could see it in the way that he walked and the way that he talked. Even his facial expressions were so meticulously detailed, you couldn’t second guess this casting choice. Williams was Popeye.
3. Adrian Cronauer, Good Morning, Vietnam
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A movie set in Saigon, 1965, during the Vietnam War, Williams plays a radio DJ on Armed Forces Radio Service, who is wildly popular with the troops, but not his superiors. It’s a story loosely based on the experiences of AFRS radio DJ Adrian Cronauer. What made this film a genuine Robin Williams piece was his take on the character. Almost all of his radio broadcasts were ad-libbed. Like this amazing bit, “Goooooooooood-byyyyeeeeee Vietnaaaaaam! That’s right, I’m history…I’m outta here! I got the lucky ticket home, baby. Rollin, rollin, rollin’…keep them wagons rollin’, rawhide!”
4. John Keating, Dead Poets Society
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A film set at the conservative Welton Academy in 1959, John Keating is a teacher that inspires his otherwise uninterested students with the use of poetry. Unlike earlier roles, such as Mork or Popeye, Williams didn’t use physical comedy to take up the screen. His passion, which viewers could see in every role he took on, was what carried this film. His delivery truly made us want to seize the day, because he was so believable in that philosophy. He made us want to stand up on our desks and chant, “O’ captain, my captain!:"
5. Dr. Malcolm Sayer, Awakenings
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While Awakenings certainly was not Williams’s first serious role, this film sticks out more because of his chemistry with those around him. William’s plays Dr. Malcolm Sayer, based on real-life British neurologist Oliver Sacks. In 1969, Sayer discovers beneficial effects of the new drug, L-Dopa, which he administers to his catatonic patients. It’s incredible to watch Williams take on this character, who is so invested in his patient’s health and quality of life, that it’s heartwarming to watch.
6. Peter Pan/Peter Banning, Hook
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Only an actor as talented and candid as Williams could manage to handle playing a grown-up Peter Pan. We’re introduced to Peter, a lawyer who is drifting from his wife and children because of his dedication to his work. It’s a wonderful display of character development to watch Peter, who has forgotten his childhood, something he never wanted to let go of, reclaim his youth and learn about life’s biggest adventures.
7. Leslie Zevo, Toys
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Toys wasn’t big at the box office, despite producing a world-class cast. Williams plays the son of a toy manufacture that falls ill and leaves the company to his uncle, a military man with no interest in building toys. Williams’s character Leslie is appalled when his uncle begins manufacturing war toys. As a child watching this movie, it was so engaging to watch Williams, who might not have seemed responsible enough to handle the company, take action to save it. He’s passionate, silly, and the unsung hero we wanted to succeed.
8. Genie, Aladdin
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In Aladdin, William’s is the genie that the title character stumbles upon. Williams was able to take this 2-dimensial character and make him larger than life. He stole every scene he was in, making him the most memorable character from the film (sorry Aladdin and Jasmine). He was completely right, we’ve never had a friend like him.
9. Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Doubtfire, Mrs. Doubtfire
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After a bitter divorce, Daniel Hillard, a talented, but jobless voice actor, is determined to still spend time with his kids. When he finds out his ex-wife is going to hire a housekeeper to help with the children, he uses his skills to pretend to be a Scottish nanny. You only need to see this movie once to remember what Williams sounded like as Mrs. Doubtfire, “Hellooo!”What could have been a ridiculous excuse at dressing up in drag, is actually a very humorous movie that touches on what the life of both parents, and children, are like in a divorce.
10. Alan Parrish, Jumanji
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Of all of William’s work, Jumanji has remained my personal favorite. The story of a boy, sucked into a board game, sounded like a plot only children could enjoy. But, as an adult, it’s more rewarding to watch Williams return to his world, years after being stuck in the jungle of the game, and have him grappling with issues we all do. Unlike some of his other work, Alan Parrish is not boisterous character that William’s could use his wild antics to portray. It’s almost like watching Robin Williams’s growing up, seeing him act like a child in an adult’s body while slowly maturing and realizing what he is responsible for.
11. Armand Goldman, The Birdcage
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The American take on La Cage aux Folles, features Williams playing a gay man, pretending to be straight for the sake of his son’s engagement. Nathan Lane gets the flashier of the two roles in this movie, but it’s impossible to not acknowledge Williams’s straight-laced performance in this piece.
12. Jack Powell, Jack
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Jack is a boy who ages 4x faster than the average kid, so at 10 he looks like is physically 40. A mix between comedy and melodrama, this idea sounds as bad out loud as it does on paper. But Williams manages to endear us in a way only he seems capable of, showing us the trouble Jack faces with a sweet earnestly that made viewers love this film, even if critics did not.
13. Professor Philip Brainard, Flubber
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Flubber is a movie meant for children, but easily enjoyed by parents as well because of Williams. He plays the absent-minded Professor Philip Brainard, who discovers flubber. Critically, it was not his best film, by a long shot, but William’s personality matches the super-bouncy substance of Flubber, without letting the CGI-created element take over the film.
14. Sean Maguire, Good Will Hunting
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Williams showed us he had the ability to combine tough love with a no nonsense kind of attitude. As psychologist Sean Maguire, he was able to help lead a brilliant man the right direction in his life. Williams ability to provide raw emotions is what landed him his first, and only, Oscar win (though he’s deserved the accolade countless times over his career).
15. Patch Adams, Patch Adams
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After committing himself to a mental institution, Patch Adams finds a purpose in life and applies to medical school. The film follows as Williams fights to make connections with his patients, using laughter as a form of healing. As viewers, we got to see William’s dedication to the belief that laughter is one of the best forms of medicine.
16. Andrew Martin, Bicentennial Man
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A sci-fi film where Williams portrays a robot, this movie held a lot of promise. It gets muddled down with semantics and plots too focused on scientific aspects of extended life, but Williams’s heart as a robot searching for humanity is what kept this movie afloat.
17. Seymour Parrish, One Hour Photo
20th Century Fox Film via Everett Collection
For those of us who were so used to Williams’ legendary comedic roles, it was jarring to watch a film like One Hour Photo. Seymour Parrish was not your usual over-the-top Williams performance. It’s chilling to watch an almost unrecognizable Williams, bleached blonde and tight-lipped, transform into this obsessive human being, fixated on the perfect family and life. This film is a testament to Williams acting range.
18. Bob Munro, RV
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As Bob Munro, younger viewers got a sense for what it would be like if Robin William’s was really your dad. We all might have loved Mrs. Doubtfire, but realistically, your dad isn’t going to dress up and be your new nanny. This portrayal, so simple and silly, is what highlights that Robin Williams was quite obviously a dad, and like other fathers, has traits that everyone can attach themselves to and love him for.
19. Ramon/Lovelace, Happy Feet &amp; Happy Feet 2
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It’s a movie about talking – and dancing and singing – penguins, why wouldn’t Robin Williams be in it? Let alone, why wouldn’t he voice 2 important characters? As Lovelace, Williams practically jumps off the screen at viewers, as a hilariously fat, wise older penguin with a penchantspouting wisdoms that actually make no sense. It’s entirely believable, not surprisingly, that if Robin Williams had been a penguin, that would be him. On the other hand, Ramon highlights Williams's ability to nail an accent, and become a smooth talking penguin.
20. Maxwell “Wizard” Wallace, August Rush
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
It’s strange seeing Williams as one of the bad guys, but he pulls off the part so well. As the “Wizard,” he takes in vagrant, homeless children with a gift for music and pawns them off as street performers. When one of his children finds a musical prodigy, he immediately begins to work with him and sees him as an opportunity for money, trying to promote him to different clubs. It’s a bit refreshing to get a sense of Williams’s funny attitude, but not have him be the hero in this. You know an actor is talented when you love them, but you’re rooting against them the entire time.
21. Teddy Roosevelt, Night at the Museum, Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (To be released later this year)
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One of his most successful films financially, this is also one of his more silly ones. It holds the classic Williams’s trait is to make it silly enough to make you laugh, but not so silly that it becomes nonsensical. Williams plays a statue of Teddy Roosevelt, yes the 26th President of the United States of America, that comes to life at night to protect the museum he is in. Williams’s demeanor captures us as an audience, making us love him and the famous president, as well his back and forth banter with co-star Ben Stiller.
There are so many more films and television appearances that were all remarkable. He was an actor that was completely unparalleled in his style, talent, and passion. He cannot be replaced, and no one would ever dare try that, but he can be remembered by all the wonderful things that he has said and done. He will truly be missed, by those of us who fell in love with him as Alan Parrish in Jumanji, or those of us who were around to first witness him as Mork on Mork and Mindy. May we never forget his immense talent and all the adventures he took us on.
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Miley Cyrus warned fans about the dangers of smoking cigarettes during a break in her comeback concert in London on Tuesday night (06May14), as she confessed she had to quit her nicotine habit because no one wanted to make out with her. The singer was back onstage after an April (14) health crisis prompted her to scrap a series of shows on her Bangerz world tour, and she halted the fun to get serious when she smelled cigarette smoke at the O2 Arena.
Addressing fans, she said, "It smells like somebody's smoking in here and you're not smoking the good stuff."
Miley then encouraged fans with a nicotine habit to switch to weed, insisting, "You know weed has never killed anybody. Instead of smoking a cigarette, why don't you roll a fat joint."
The Wrecking Ball singer added, "I used to smoke, I smoked for three years and they were the best three years of my life... but they (cigarettes) slowly started to kill me and I started looking old and I'm only 21... and no one wanted to make out with me.
"In the middle of smoking all these joints... I could get any guy and girl to make out with me, because my breath smelled so hot.
"I love cigarettes but I can't smoke, so now I'm just trying to bring you guys all down with me, and make you not smoke either... I'm p**sed off because I can't have a cigarette. I wish cigarettes didn't kill people, because then I would f**king smoke all day."

John Legend's model wife Chrissy Teigen has lashed out at critics online after receiving a series of nasty comments about her weight in response to a photo she posted on Instagram.com. The 28 year old shared a series of four pictures of herself in a white spaghetti-strap crop top and a high-waisted skirt on her Instagram.com page on Thursday (24Apr14) after attending the MTV upfront TV presentations in New York, but some of the feedback she received was far from kind.
One user simply stated, "You gained weight?", while another wrote, "Putting on that weight momma".
The rude comments prompted outspoken Teigen to hit back at her detractors on Twitter.com, writing, "Honestly f**k you all. Why do I even open anything up to you?
"In what other real life situation would you walk up to someone and tell them they're fat or gained weight? Seriously you are POS (pieces of s**t). I don't know why I am always surprised when you let me down. I gotta get used to this s**t. It's amazing to me that I am told to get over the a**holes but the a**holes are never told to stop being pieces of s**t."

Bravo
In this week's episode of Real Housewives of New York City, the ladies head to the Hamptons to celebrate Sonja Morgan’s cabaret burlesque poetry slam. When did doing improvised poetry in lingerie become an art form? More importantly, when did Sonja become J.P. Craigslist? She "hires" an entire free labor squad of teenagers. Hopefully they are film students and can document her madness in Grey Gardens II: The Wrath of Cans.
Aviva Drescher is fighting with Carole Radziwill over whose book is most worthy of the bargain bin. Heather Thomson will remind anyone who will listen that she used to work for P. Diddy. Meanwhile, this season’s editors are the shadiest in Housewife history. Exiled housewife LuAnn "Desperate for Cash" Lesseps keeps getting called a drag queen within tongue-in-cheek edits. And Ramona Singer, a.k.a. Eye-lander the Last Original Wife, is in Africa delivering Pinto Grigio to starving children.
The ladies go to a barbeque at LuAnn’s house. It’s nice of them to keep her on the show since she lost her Jitney bus pass in her divorce and is hardly in the city. Aviva’s “friend” and “image consultant,” Amanda Sanders, tags along. Is she yet another woman Harry Dubin has slept with? Why is she there? She mentions decking Heather, and Heather gets into her face (let's applaud her for that). She’s prepping for the release of her rap album under the name DJ Heather Tho. Her first single “Shove It In Yo Spanx” features lyrics like the following...
I’m chillin in the city and I’m Heather ThoMy Yummy Yummy Spanx will fix your camel toe. Holla!
Sadly, this is not the case...
Heather wants Amanda out, but the drunk girl insists on being inserted into Aviva and Carole’s quiet discussion. Doesn’t she realize their conversation is so boring that the camera crew has submitted to filming LuAnn serve cake? Plus, let’s face it: Bookgate is a little ridiculous. Even though Carole probably had some significant help in writing her book, she was highly condescending to Aviva. On the other hand, Aviva came out of left field with her book deal and was doling out hearsay on reality television. Even if Carole’s books are copies of Fifty Shades of Grey with her name written on them in crayon, it’s a capital crime in reality TV to air out dirty laundry on television... at least without saying "allegedly" a lot.
Things get weird fast. A drunk Sonja is dancing around the table and claims to have peed. Her poor interns sit there knowing they’ll have to clean her. Meanwhile, a conversation between Heather and Aviva escalates as Aviva’s mild-mannered husband Reid randomly chimes in. Correction: yells in. NeNe Leakes may want to talk to him about entering women’s business. Apparently, he was witness to “multiple sources” talking about Carole’s book. He also said she was fat and had no friends and shops at Ross Dress for Less, so he may not be reliable. Aviva, Reid, and Amanda yell at Heather until she decides to ride dirty, delivering a cuss-filled tirade to Aviva. The entire cast treats Heather like some sort of gangster; she worked for Diddy and Beyonce’s luxury clothing line, but they are acting like she shot Tupac. (Racism, anyone?) LuAnn asks everyone to leave because she has a lot of not-starring-on-the-show to do in the morning.
Aviva Drescher’s Passive-Aggressive Book Tour
Aviva goes to brunch at Sonja’s to recap the fight. Sonja loses a tooth, and possibly her mind. The two get a facial together, then she takes her children to a craft shop to be taken care of by a random woman while she and her husband have a conversation. Becky, the friend who cost Aviva her leg, emails her, probably to discuss the paperwork she had to sign to be discussed in Aviva’s book. Aviva wants to pour salt on a 34-year-old wound by making this poor woman relieve this traumatic event. Aviva swears she doesn’t hold a grudge but makes sure lay the guilt on thick. Either Aviva’s expensive therapy is paying off or she has been drying her tears with her book advance check because she seems thrilled to discuss the events of that day. Meanwhile, her poor friend has to relive these memories on national TV.
The Mermaid Sisterhood and Crabs
Carole is being honored as the Queen of Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade, and don’t you forget it. All the ladies get ready for the parade but J.P. Craigslist strikes again. She has a random designer (a.k.a. student) arrive to help her make a homespun costume. The ladies show up including Kristen Taekman. Taekman is awesome and honestly feels like the new Bethenny because she is just a snarky witness to the madness. The ladies decide to ride with drag queens, and the LuAnn jokes keep coming. Finally, to prove she is above the whole Bookgate drama, Carole reads a poem. It’s a poem she wrote... because she is a writer... and a better one than Aviva is. The ladies read the poem and Carole declares them part of the Mermaid Sisterhood. Would this be of the traveling pants variety?
They all say goodbye as LuAnn excuses herself to swim back to The Hamptons.
The Real House-lines of NYC
"Deck me, big bad girl. Bring it!" – More of Heather’s freestyling lyrics
"She loud, she obnoxious, she got opinions about everybody. She’s drunk. She’s sloppy. So take your sloppy ass on home." – Even more of Heather’s lyrics
"I just peed my panties and I don’t have any on!" – Mother of the Year: Sonja
"You are full of empty bulls**t. Nobody likes you. Nobody wants to be around you. Don’t tell me anything, mother f**ker. Don’t mother f**kin' tell me nothin’." – Heather keeping it real
"I’ve been going to the Hamptons for a long time, and I have never heard anybody say that at a party." – Kristen proving she’s the new Bethenny
"If anyone’s going to understand losing a body part, it’s Aviva." – Sonja
"Think abundance, have abundance. Oh my god, I got to hide the vibrator." – Sonja’s morning prayer
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Rockers Arctic Monkeys were the big winners at the 2014 NME Awards in London on Wednesday (26Feb14) after taking home a trio of top honours. The Fluorescent Adolescent hitmakers, who headed into the ceremony with eight nominations, picked up the first prize of the night, for Best Live Band, and followed it up with the Best Album accolade for AM and Best British Band.
But it wasn't all about the Arctic Monkeys - their hit Do I Wanna Know? lost out to Disclosure's White Noise in the Best Track category, and Best Music Video went to Eagulls for Nerve Endings.
Lily Allen claimed the title of Best Solo Artist, but appeared a little shocked as she collected the trophy and told the crowd, "This is kind of dumb because David Bowie is in this category, and Jake Bugg, so this goes to you guys, not me! Thank you."
Meanwhile, Blur star and Innovation prize winner Damon Albarn was given the honour of introducing Sir Paul McCartney as the recipient of the one-off Songwriter's Songwriter award, in celebration of his phenomenal career.
As he took to the podium at the O2 Academy Brixton, the Beatles icon recalled reading the NME magazine during his youth and confessed to pulling off a prank with his Fab Four bandmates years ago, revealing: "One of the things we used to like to do was plant false stories in the NME and we actually got one in that George (Harrison) was Billy Fury's cousin, but he wasn't...!"
After a brief technical glitch, Blondie were honoured with the night's final accolade, the Godlike Genius award, and they wrapped up the event by hitting the stage for a hits medley, kicking off the set with their 1979 smash One Way or Another.
Other performances during the night came from the likes of The Horrors, Belle and Sebastian, and Metronomy, who teamed up with female trio Mutya Keisha Siobhan to open the show with Love Letters.
The main list of winners at the 2014 NME Awards is as follows:
Best British Band - Arctic Monkeys
Best Live Band - Arctic Monkeys
Best Album - AM by Arctic Monkeys
Best Track - White Noise, Disclosure
Best Solo Artist - Lily Allen
Best New Band - Drenge
Best International Band - Haim
Best Music Video - Nerve Endings by Eagulls
Best Music Film - Made of Stone, directed by Shane Meadows
Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution to Music - Belle and Sebastian
Philip Hall Radar Award - Fat White Family
Songwriter's Songwriter Award - Sir Paul McCartney
Godlike Genius - Blondie
Innovation - Damon Albarn
Best Festival - Glastonbury
Best TV Show - Breaking Bad

20th Century Fox via Everett Collection
Emily Watson is a multi-award winning actress who has played a variety of complex and iconic roles, but the thing she finds the most fun about Rosa Hubermann, the character she plays in her latest film, The Book Thief, is that she's so unpleasant. In the film adaptation of Markus Zusak's bestseller, Rosa is the stern wife of Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush), a German couple who take in a foster child, Leisel Meminger (Sophie Nèlisse) at the start of World War II. However, once the family begins sheltering Max Vandenburg (Ben Schnetzer), a Jewish man, her frosty exterior melts to reveal a woman who will — in Watson's own words — "fight like a tiger" to protect the people she loves.
In our interview with Watson, ahead of The Book Thief's November 8 release, we talked about he first impressions of the story, why she felt so free to be terrible to Geoffrey Rush, and the joy she finds in playing such a "vile" character.
I’m actually a really big fan of the novel, and I thought the film did a great job translating it to screen, so I was wondering what was your introduction to the story? Had you read the novel beforehand, or did it start with the script? The script was, I’m ashamed to say, my first introduction, and I thought it was an amazing script, and then I read the book and I thought it was an amazing book. But I think it’s quite a successful extrapolation — Geoffrey was talking about it earlier, that it was a very difficult thing to find a film language because you can’t have — you know, Death narrating everything is brilliant, but it’s a literary device, but I think that’s what’s really unique about the book is that it’s a view of this, it’s an indifferent. Death is indifferent to who’s dying, in a way, and Death is a beneficent presence.
You said that it was really exciting to play a character who was so unpleasant. She’s also very understated and really quiet about her emotions. Was that part of the challenge, and was that also exciting for you?I think she’s someone who’s very disappointed and very angry. I guess in a good Protestant way she keeps her lip buttoned, but she’s pretty vile. And then she gets to the point where the real events, the huge events going on around them start to break her open, in a way, and actually she has something that’s he loves, which is a home full of needy children who need her and she loves them and they’re under threat and she will fight like a tiger to protect them. She’s probably never felt more alive and she’s a person with great love in her heart, somewhere, but finds it very difficult to express.
Was it intimidating to play such a beloved character or are you at the point in your career where nothing scares you? No, I think it’s like flying an airplane. If you don’t have the fear, don’t do it. In a way, though, that the “beloved character,” you can’t be intimidated by that, you’ve just got to try and go with it as much as you can, but in a sense you have to bring yourself to it too. I mean, it was good fun, just deciding I need to look as much like a s**t bag as I possibly can, I need to look fat, I need to scrape my hair back and they put really ugly, aging makeup and gray, scraped back, dirty hair and after about a week I just kind of got used to it, really, and being nasty was really good fun as well.
There are a lot of newcomers and relative newcomers in the cast. What was it like working with them? I mean, Sophie and Ben, are both beautiful young actors, and Ben particularly was in his last year at drama school, so he knew a lot about the theory of acting and was sort of wide-eyed with astonishment to be in the room with us and doing it an just asking questions all the time. Really, really lovely young man. And Sophie as well, I remember her after the first day of rehearsal just looking at us really curiously, and Brian [Percival, the director] asking her, you know, “Are you okay?” and she said “I didn’t really know you could go into things as deeply as this.” Because we sat and talked and talked and talked about everything, you know, about the family and the history and what was going on in Germany, and Geoffrey and I both love to talk. And she was sort of, “Okay, I get it.” And she really was like a sponge, soaking it up.
And you’ve worked with Geoffrey before, did that help you build the relationship between Hans and Rosa? Yeah, we’ve had real fun together before. Doing The Life and Death of Peter Sellers was a hoot, and then we did press, we went to Cannes, we had a laugh, we had a hoot, so we had that. We knew each other and we knew we had shared a sense of humor, so actually it sort of gave me license to be really, really mean to him and just get on with it in a way. We didn’t have to be sensitive.
I wanted to ask a little bit about the accent you use in the film. It’s a bit rare to have an American produced film with characters actually using German accents. Uh, in The Reader, they did. If you actually look, a lot of really good movies of this period, they do, really. Yeah, we had dialect coaches, we had a lot of coaching and lessons, but also we were surrounded by Germans, so that made it easier. But also, it’s the inflection that helps with the character.
This is a pretty intense experience, but the film has some lighter moments as well. Were there any scenes that were a lot of fun to film? I liked filming the scene where I hit Geoffrey round the head, when I’m feeding [Max] soup and he throws up. That was a really lovely demonstration of the relationship between actors on the set, because Ben was sitting there, and he was doing his very best sort of absolutely immersion in the total “I’ve just arrived in a strange house, and I’m feeling very ill and I’m going to be sick”, and Geoffrey and I kind of looked at each other and said, “Okay. If you show that you’re going to be sick, it’s going to spoil the gag. It’s a gag. So don’t.” and then, of course Geoffrey is the comic actor, so it was sort of “Okay, Geoffrey. How many spoons do I give him? One spoon, two spoons, or three spoons before he gags? What’s the right comic [timing]?” So, yeah, we had the master comedian sort of turning his hat, and it was really lovely. And then, just getting up and hitting him, just [thwack], that was the best. I don’t know which one they used in the film, I can’t remember, but one was a really resounding thwap, and the entire crew were on the floor laughing. That was good fun.
And were there any you found particularly difficult? Going to the school and telling [Liesel] that Max was going to live, that sort of final cracking of Rosa [where she] does something utterly emotional and impulsive and dangerous, but full of love. In a way, it was a great release to be able to do it like that, but it takes a lot of concentration, I guess, to get to the right place for that.
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Movie star Nicolas Cage has taken aim at Hollywood's top executives in a new TV interview, accusing them of ignoring Asian talent. The Con Air star sat down with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV to talk about his new movie Outcast, which is a joint U.S. and China production, and he used his airtime to praise the continent's top film stars, calling on Tinseltown's studio bosses to use them more in mainstream films.
Saluting the talents of his Outcast co-star Liu Yifei, Cage said, "I hope that we will see more Chinese actors in American cinema too. We do see Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun Fat, but it’s very rare to see the Chinese male actor in Hollywood movies, which is something I take great umbrage with.
"My son is Asian. He may want to direct one day; he may want to be an actor like his father - and I want that to be open to him. So I want to make some kind of effort to see more of that happen in Hollywood."
The son Cage is referring to is his eight year old with wife Alice Kim, who is Korean-American.
Outcast marked Cage's first film experience in China, but he insisted it won't be his last: "I do want to come back, and I want to work with a Chinese director and Chinese actors. If there’s something that makes sense for a white guy like me, I’d like to do that here in China.
"I would like to make a movie with (Chinese actor) Tony Leung, but I don’t know how to do it."

A bid to honour slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. in his native Brooklyn, New York has fallen flat after local officials decided he was too fat. Neighbourhood bosses have shut down a proposal to rename a street corner Christopher Wallace Way, citing the rap icon's misogynistic lyrics, criminal past and obesity.
Notorious B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed in 1997 and the case into his death still remains unsolved.
Fans were hoping to honour his memory ahead of the 20th anniversary of his death in 2017 with a street name near where he grew up, but it's beginning to look like that is not going to happen.
Local official Lucy Koteen has revealed she researched the rapper's history and decided to vote against the proposal, stating, "He started selling drugs at 12, he was a school dropout at 17, he was arrested for drugs and weapons charges, he was arrested for parole violations, he was arrested in North Carolina for crack cocaine, in 1996 he was again arrested for assault, he had a violent death, and physically the man is not exactly a role model for youth.
"I don't see how this guy was a role model, and frankly it offends me."
LeRoy McCarthy, who began the online petition to name the corner after his hero, has hit back, insisting, "There are many artists that share stories in a vernacular that their audiences understand. Biggie used the language from the streets he grew up in to convey what he wanted to say... Board members should not hold Wallace's physical appearance nor how he died against him."

Josh, 310 pounds, is the largest person in his family, and has to watch his younger brothers play sports and get the girls. Trainer Joey tries to whip him into shape.

Episode 2. Terra
(AIR DATE 10/18/2011)

Obesity runs in Terra's family, so getting her to a healthy weight means breaking bad habits without their help.

Episode 3. Lindsey
(AIR DATE 10/25/2011)

Lindsey's dad is overweight to the point that it is affecting his health, and her mother has bad eating habits as well. Lindsey has to break from the ways of her parents and come to terms with her distant father.

Episode 4. Latrice
(AIR DATE 11/01/2011)

Latrice struggles to stop binge eating in secret, and to come to terms with her abandonment issues.